Record low for house cold – weather related deaths

The number of people killed by cold weather last winter was the lowest since records began, official statistics show.

18,200 “excess winter deaths” were provisionally recorded in the 2013/14 winter. Warmer-than-average weather led to a 40% fall in the number of cold-related deaths in England and Wales in winter 2013/14, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Some 18,200 “excess winter deaths” were provisionally recorded in the 2013/14 winter, the lowest since they began being collected in 1950/51.

It was also down 42% from the 31,280 killed by cold in the 2012/13 winter.

An ONS spokesman said: “Winter 2013/14 was characterised by a slightly colder-than-average temperature in November followed by a sustained period of milder-than-average weather. Temperatures in December and January remained over two degrees higher than the five-year average. ”

The most at-risk groups were the over 75s, who accounted for 14,000 of the deaths last winter. Women were more likely to die than men and those in the West Midlands were at most risk, and those in the North East the least likely, the ONS said.

The number of people dying from influenza last winter was also the lowest for the season for several years, it added.

The 2013/14 winter was the wettest since records began 250 years ago and the fifth warmest since 1910, the Met Office said in March.